As he finished his preparations last weekend for his third professional grass-court tournament, Carlos Alcaraz made it clear that he was keeping his expectations far lower than usual. Instead of heading to Queen’s Club in west London in order to win the title, his primary goal was merely to gain more experience on grass, a surface he has spent so little time on. There are, after all, surely limits to his precocity.
For once, Alcaraz significantly underestimated his own abilities; a week later, he is still on track to pull off both achievements. The Spaniard will play for his first grass-court title after a spectacular display of relentless attacking tennis allowed him to ease past Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-4 and reach the Queen’s final on his debut.
“I surprised myself honestly with the level that I’m playing right now, how I’m feeling on court,” said Alcaraz. “I didn’t expect to feel that in just six days.
“I mean, I came here just to get experience, to get out on court and practising and playing with these kind of players and is a good preparation for Wimbledon, but I didn’t expect at the beginning of the week that I’m gonna be in the final and playing such a good level.”
The top seed will face an extremely confident, seasoned grass-court player in the seventh seed, Alex de Minaur of Australia, who has maintained his consistently high level since easily beating Andy Murray in the first round, ending Holger Rune’s run with an excellent 6-3, 7-6 (2) win.
The first deep grass-court run of Alcaraz’s career has been a process. The 20-year-old had begun the tournament by barely surviving in the third set of his first-round match against the world No 83, Arthur Rinderknech, a lucky loser.
After clinching his first top-30 win on grass against the world No 26, Grigor Dimitrov, in two tight sets on Friday, Alcaraz entered the semi-final bursting with confidence.
He started slowly on Saturday, dropping his serve in the opening game, but Alcaraz recovered brilliantly. He generated break points in every return game in the first set as he constantly looked to take the first strike, unloading on massive, explosive forehands. Behind his big first strike, Alcaraz constantly swept to the net, he served and volleyed numerous times and he suffocated Korda with his relentless pressure.
The American is a talented 22-year-old who strikes the ball with smooth technique and sweet timing. He had reached his first grand slam quarter-final at the Australian Open this year, before he missed three months of the season due to a wrist injury. Korda’s sparkling form at Queen’s, with two top 15 wins over Frances Tiafoe and Cam Norrie, prompted him to make a bold proclamation. “I definitely feel as if I’m one of the favourites at Wimbledon,” he said.
Such confidence may have also been a reflection of how few capable grass-court players there are in the top 10, beyond Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz has provided a further reminder of his ability to learn quickly and why, despite his lack of experience, he will be a contender at Wimbledon.
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Afterwards, Alcaraz noted that his biggest improvement this week has been to his movement, which he is no longer concerned about during points. “The most [important] thing that I have learned this week is to move. I think I’m moving well on grass right now. I start the week with doubts about movement, about hitting the ball. Right now, I feel like I have been playing on grass for many years,” he said.
In Sunday’s final against De Minaur, the rankings crown will also be on the line. If Alcaraz wins, he will replace Djokovic – who beat him in the semi-finals en route to winning the French Open – as world No 1 and he will be the top seed at Wimbledon. It is a scenario that provides only extra motivation for Alcaraz.
“I think Novak and I, we are having a beautiful fight for the No 1,” he said. “Yeah, I’m gonna go for it. [It would] be crazy for me to be top seed in Wimbledon.”
